labarum

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. An ecclesiastical banner, especially one carried in processions.

n. The banner adopted by Constantine I after his conversion to Christianity.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. The Roman military standard adopted by Constantine I. The banner was known for its Christian chi-rho sign - ☧.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. The standard adopted by the Emperor Constantine after his conversion to Christianity. It is described as a pike bearing a silk banner hanging from a crosspiece, and surmounted by a golden crown. It bore a monogram of the first two letters (ΧΡ) (which appear like the English letters X and P), of the name of Christ in its Greek form. Later, the name was given to various modifications of this standard.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. A Roman military standard adopted by the later emperors as the imperial standard.

n. A standard or banner of similar form, borne in ecclesiastical processions of the Roman Catholic Church.

n. Figuratively, a moral standard, guide, or device.

Etymologies

Late Latin, probably from alteration of Greek labrāton, laurel-leaf standard, from Latin laureātum, neuter of laureātus, adorned with laurel; see laureate.

(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

The solemn epithets of, safety of the republic, glory of the army, restoration of public happiness, are equally applied to the religious and military trophies; and there is still extant a medal of the emperor Constantius, where the standard of the labarum is accompanied with these memorable words, By This Sign

Above all military representations of the cross the original imperial labarum shone in the richest decorations of gold and gems; was intrusted to the truest and bravest fifty of the body guard; filled the Christians with the spirit of victory, and spread fear and terror among their enemies; until, under the weak successors of Theodosius II., it fell out of use, and was lodged as a venerable relic in the imperial palace at Constantinople.

Accordingly, after his triumphal entrance into Rome, he had his statue erected upon the forum with the labarum in his right hand, and the inscription beneath: 'By this saving sign, the true token of bravery, I have delivered your city from the yoke of the tyrant.'

I see. I would have been raised Catholic if either of my parents had kept up with it; as it was, we only went to mass when visiting my grandparents in South Dakota. But I still have a soft spot for Catholic paraphernalia. :-)

Mostly sentimental, npydyuan. One reason is that I was raised Catholic, and this symbol was worked into the railing around the altar at our church. Seeing it always makes me think of home. :-) I also like the visual symmetry and the meaning itself.

"The labarum was a military standard which displayed the first two Greek letters of the word Christ ( Greek: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ or Χ�?ιστός )—Chi (χ) and Rho, (�?).1 It was first used by the Roman emperor Constantine I (Greek: Μέγας Κωνσταντίνος ).

The etymology of the word before Constantine's usage of it is unclear."- Wikipedia